Dennis – stock.adobe.com
According to the website of the Hong Kong Companies Registry, ByteDance (Hong Kong) Limited has changed its name to Douyin Group (Hong Kong) Limited, effective as of 6 May 2022. Several other companies under ByteDance have consecutively changed their names to “Douyin”. According to the National Enterprise Credit Information Disclosures System, Beijing ByteDance Technology Co. Ltd. changed its name to Beijing Douyin Information Service Co Ltd.
Why it matters
Douyin is the most well-known product of ByteDance, with 600 million daily users according to previously announced data. Two core products, Douyin and Today’s Top, contribute most of ByteDance’s domestic revenue.
On 25 April, CEO Liang Rubo announced the appointment of a new CFO through an internal letter, with Julie Gao, a senior partner at Shida International Law Firm, taking up the position. The appointment was interpreted as a signal that ByteDance was planning to go public. Gao has advised more than 100 companies on their IPOs and other capital market financing projects, including Meituan, Jingdong and Xiaomi.
Context
As early as 2020, there was news that ByteDance was positioning the spin-off of Douyin to list in Hong Kong. On 23 April 2021, ByteDance responded on its official headline that “after careful study, we believe that the company does not have the conditions for listing for the time being and currently have no plans to list”.
